'Green on Facebook' app shares your energy use

OPower, the Natural Resources Defense Council and Facebook have
partnered on a scheme called "Green on Facebook" that
lets you share information on your energy use with your
friends.

It'll take the form of an app, to be revealed in 2012, that will let US users log into a
nationwide network and compare their energy use with others around
the country, share tips on saving energy, and enter contents aimed
at promoting lower energy use.

The principle behind the scheme was laid clear in OPower CEO
Alex Laskey's recent Wired 2011 talk. In it, he discussed how an average citizen in
the industrialised world spends just six minutes thinking about
their energy use each year. "I spend more time thinking
about Justin Bieber", he said.

The peer pressure aspect is an important part of making schemes
like this work. Laskey argued that recycling spread from
green-leaning households to the wider population because people
didn't want to be seen on recycling day without the bright orange
box on the pavement outside their house -- making the process
extremely visible increased the peer pressure on the hold-outs.

OPower likely hopes that the same principle will apply in the
virtual world too. You'll want to appear on the energy-use charts
alongside your friends so they don't think less of you.

For the time being, the scheme looks to be limited to the United
States, where there's somewhat wider adoption of smart meter
equipment. However, given OPower announced in July that it's moving into Britain, perhaps
we could see a roll-out on this side of the pond sooner, rather
than later.